Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reuters
Reuters
Health

WHO asks countries to increase surveillance for Monkeypox

FILE PHOTO: An electron microscopic (EM) image shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virus particles as well as crescents and spherical particles of immature virions, obtained from a clinical human skin sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak in this undated image obtained by Reuters on May 18, 2022. Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regnery/CDC/Handout via REUTERS

About 200 confirmed and more than 100 suspected cases of Monkeypox have been detected so far outside of the countries where it usually spreads, a World Health Organization official said on Thursday, urging countries to increase surveillance for the infectious disease.

Monkeypox, a mild viral infection, is endemic in the African countries of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria.

The recent outbreak in non-endemic countries has raised concerns. The strain circulating globally is thought to have a fatality rate of around 1%, although effective vaccines and treatments are available.

Talking during an online briefing, WHO's senior epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said cases have so far been detected in more than 20 non-endemic countries, adding that the agency expected the numbers to go up.

"We expect more cases to be detected. We are asking countries to increase surveillance...This is a containable situation. It will be difficult, but it's a containable situation in the non-endemic countries."

(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.